Making the World a Better Place: The Praxis of Christian Community Development as a Church Planting and Multiplication Strategy in Urban Poor Communities in the United States

The topic of this dissertation centers on church planting and multiplication in urban poor communities in the United States. The ministry problem being addressed is the fact that The Wesleyan Church denomination does not have a strategy for church planting and multiplication in urban poor communities. In Section One, the complexity of this problem will be explored by: first, considering The Wesleyan Church’s predominantly rural-based, white-evangelical past; second, considering the effects of urbanization and globalization, which have created an increasingly urban, multiethnic, and socioeconomically divided mission field in the United States; and last, gaining a deeper understanding of systemic racism and poverty and the white-evangelical church’s contribution to creating and embedding these injustices in American society. Section Two will introduce other possible solutions by exploring current, popular church planting and multiplication approaches being used across the United States. This section will be broken into four parts: Theory and Theology, Church Planting Models, Denominational Approaches, and Focused Networks. In Section Three, the thesis of this dissertation will be developed, exploring the praxis of Christian community development as a church planting and multiplication strategy for The Wesleyan Church within urban poor communities across the United States. This section will introduce the vision and mission of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) by describing the origin and development of the CCDA, exploring the five dimensions of a holistic gospel and the eight components of the CCDA philosophy, and lastly developing a potential model that could be considered as a church planting and multiplication strategy for The Wesleyan Church in urban poor communities. Finally, Sections Four through Six describe and outline the dissertation artifact of a film and website produced to provoke engagement in exploring the praxis of Christian community development as a church planting and multiplication strategy in urban poor communities

The concept of God in the philosophy of Karl Jaspers

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThe purpose of this thesis is to determine the function of the concept of God in Karl Jaspers' metaphysical philosophy. This concept is central to his system, but can only be understood in terms of Jaspers' own conception of philosophy, both as a historically rooted discipline and as an individual quest. The difficulties encountered in an attempted interpretation of Jaspers are largely due to his own preference for a "gliding" terminology and an "open-ended" system. His own insistence is that aim in philosophy takes precedence over method. Philosophy is essentially metaphysics, yet it cannot become an ontological "science of Being." Philosophy is given its initial impetus in the "ultimate situations" of life, but satisfying answers are precluded by partial nature of our knowledge. Epistemological dualism, as an ultimate position, is to be overcome in terms of the concept of Encompassing. This is the reality illuminated at the horizons of our knowledge. It has two major aspects: The being which we are and Being Itself. The former has its own modes, which correspond to the levels of existence in human life. Empirical existence, or Dasein, is factual historically; consciousness as such, or intellection, is the faculty of rationality; spirit, or mind, corresponds to the integrated, total personality [TRUNCATED

Archaeometric Analysis of Pottery Technology in the Funnel Beaker Culture. A Case Study: Tannenhausen, East Frisia (Germany)

The analysis of pottery fragments reveals detailed information about the technology used in the different regions of the Funnel Beaker Culture. This will make an important contribution to the reconstruction of communication networks. In the project presented here, various analytical methods were used to investigate technological aspects such as the raw material and temper. These investigations showed that crushed granite was the predominant tempering agent. The analysis of thin sections of sherds from the megalithic tomb at Tannenhausen, in the District of Aurich (East Frisia, Germany), indicated that the vessels found in the tomb were all locally produced in the same pottery tradition

Book Review: The Entry Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone: A Framework for the Experience and Project

This paper is a book review of The Entry Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone: A Framework for the Experience and Project (DeIuliis & Bednarski, 2019). This review includes a description of the book, content summary, and critical analysis of its educational value. Overall, this book is recommended as a resource for doctoral capstone coordinators

Female hospitallers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

"Female Hospitallers in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries" is an analysis of the presence of female members in the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, who were associated with the order as lay sisters involved in hospital care, as women devoted to the liturgy, and as commanders. The study gives special attention to the differences among types of female association, the accommodation of female religious, the cooperation between men and women (or lack thereof), and motivation. It is the first large-scale study of women in the military orders in English and first serious attempt to relate the study of military orders to the framework of the study of female monasticism. With predominantly archival sources as her evidence, the author argues that, 1. the female members of the Hospital of Saint John were not an anomaly to the order but formed an integral part of the order, as they contributed financially, physically, socially, and above all, spiritually; 2. the Hospital of Saint John was, in comparison to other religious orders, remarkably open to receiving and accommodating women. Some of these women associated as fully-professed religious, others as lay associates or semi-religious; consorores, donatas, or the like, depending on when or where the association was made. At the end of the twelfth century and in line with a general trend in the history of monasticism, the Order of Saint John began to segregate the women from the men and established religious houses specifically for them. However, this segregation was never complete, and unlike most other religious orders, the Hospitallers continued to welcome female association in male, female, and mixed-sex congregations throughout the thirteenth century. Its positive attitude towards women was only matched by other Augustinian institutions, and points at a difference between Augustinian and Cistercian-Benedictine oriented military religious orders

NRC TLD direct radiation monitoring network: Progress report, January--March 1996, Volume 16, No. 1

This report provides the status and results of the NRC Thermoluminescent Dosimeter (TLD) Direct Radiation Monitoring Network. It presents the radiation levels measured in the vicinity of NRC licensed facilities throughout the country for the first quarter of 1996

The Risk Factors and Preventive Measures Regarding Fall-Related Injuries at Home Among Older Adults: A Literature Review

The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors, among older adults, that play a role in causing fall-related injuries in the home as well as to investigate the various preventive measures via a literature review. 14 articles were identified to have met the inclusion/exclusion criteria for this review. The results showed that there were potentially modifiable risk factors (for example, musculoskeletal factors like balance and gait impairment), several available preventive measures (for example, home modifications and medication review), and effective multifactorial programs in preventing falls among older adults. This study also sought to locate gaps in the current literature regarding fall risk prevention in the older adult demographic. Additionally, selected articles were found to neglect the role of occupational therapy in fall prevention

NRC TLD Direct Radiation Monitoring Network: Progress report January--March 1997. Volume 17, Number 1

This report presents the results of the NRC Direct Radiation Monitoring Network for the first quarter of 1997. It provides the ambient radiation levels measured in the vicinity of 74 sites throughout the US. In addition, it describes the recent intercomparison of environmental dosimeters and provides an analysis of the data

NRC TLD Direct Radiation Monitoring Network. Progress report, October--December 1996

This report presents the results of the NRC Direct Radiation Monitoring Network for the fourth quarter of 1996. It provides the ambient radiation levels measured in the vicinity of 74 sites throughout the United States. In addition, it describes the equipment used, monitoring station selection criteria, characterization of the dosimeter response, calibration procedures, statistical methods, intercomparison, and quality assurance program. 3 figs., 4 tabs